Early Ed Watch

The United States spent $5.2 billion on child care last year through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).  But a new study reveals little evidence to suggest that the funds are leading parents to enroll their children in high-quality child care centers. In fact, the study, published in Child Development this month (“Child Care Subsidies: Do They Impact the Quality of Care Children Experience?”), found that low-income parents who used federal child care subsidies tended to sign up for lower-quality care for their children than other low-income parents that registered for Head Start or state-funded pre-K.

As Congress prepares for its summer recess, some senators are looking ahead to a looming deadline: On Jan. 2, 2013, spending by federal agencies could face across-the-board cuts (“sequesters”) of nearly 8 percent. If Congress fails to pass a bill canceling sequestration orders, only a few programs would be exempted.

During the farm bill negotiations this week, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ) introduced an amendment to research what sequestration would mean for federal programs, including education programs. The amendment, which passed the Senate but has yet to make it into law, would require the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to produce an estimate of the amount by which sequestration would reduce fiscal year 2013 appropriations. On education, the amendment would require President Obama to produce a report specifying how sequestration would impact students, teacher positions lost, and program funding. Early childhood programs such as Head Start, Child Care and Development Block Grants, and Title I grants to school districts could be affected.

Digital media is having a big impact on classrooms for students of all ages, and no name is more recognizable in the field than Salman Khan, the founder of the popular video tutorial site Khan Academy.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released their proposal for funding five states that narrowly missed winning the 2011 Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. Under the proposal, those states -- Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin -- could receive up to 50 percent of what they were eligible to win in the original competition.